Passing Strange is a musical by Stew and Heidi Rodewald (of the band "The Negro Problem") that premiered on Broadway in 2008. It was directed by (and "created in collaboration with") Annie Dorsen, and was nominated for several Tony Awards, winning for Best Book.

It follows a discontented, middle-class black teenager (referred to only as "Youth"), as he leaves his home and his mom in Los Angeles to find artistic freedom and the ever-elusive idea called "The Real" in Europe, first in Amsterdam, and then in Berlin. The story is loosely based off of Stew's own experiences as a young man. The show is performed by seven actors and an on-stage band, with no set. It is often said to be a combination of a standard musical and a rock concert, being mostly-sung through and somewhat interactive on the part of the Narrator.

Its final few performances were recorded by Spike Lee (one of the show's biggest fans) and edited into a "concert movie"-style film version, which is currently playing at the IFC theatre in New York City, and is available On Demand, and on DVD.

Provides Examples Of:

Acting for Two - The four cast members who do not play The Narrator, Youth, or Mom all play three major characters over the course of the show, one in each locale.

Angry Black Man - Subverted and played with all day long. The Youth is an Angry Black Man, but he's angry at the upper black middle class society that has "oppressed" him. (He's been oppressed but not to the extreme that he imagines.) He also masquerades as an Angry Black Man instead of who he truly is - an artistic Black and Nerdy, to stay at Nowhaus, a halfway house of socially conscious artists who think he's just an "American Pop Song Maker".

But Not Too Black - Partially inverted in-show; Edwina wants Youth to blacken up a bit, but not so much that he'll "become unhireable."

Cloud Cuckoo Lander - A lot of the supporting cast, most of all Nowhaus members Mr. Venus and Sudabey:

Sudabey: "My porno films feature fully-clothed men making business deals."

Mr. Franklin(pulls scarf over head and sings soprano): Vissi d'arte. Hello - Maria Callas speaking. Yes it's me, darlings, with my funny nose, skinny legs and all and I have nothing to hide. If I were anymore real, child, I'd be fictional!

Cluster F-Bomb - "What the fuck is going on? / What the fuck is going wrong?"

Europeans Are Kinky - The youth finds his way to Amsterdam and discovers the promiscuous hook-up culture in the song "We Just Had Sex," where he experiments with single partners, multiple partners, female partners, and male partners. Being the American in the situation, he's the only one who sees anything unusual about this.

There is even a visual pun during the song "We Just Had Sex" — somewhere in the middle the stage falls silent and the band falls still, save for The Narrator, who is stroking the neck of his guitar rather...rhythmically.

I Need to Go Iron My Dog - Most of the Nowhaus crew has the good sense to leave during an argument between the Youth and Desi... except Hugo, Desi's ex.

Ironic Echo "Right when it was starting to feel real" pops up first when Youth laments in "Stoned", but is repeated to mean other things later on.

Also "Welcome to Amsterdam" is sung a LOT in "Amsterdam" and trilled ironically when Youth is singing "Stoned", about the side effects of the drugs and odd love Marianna provides.

May fall under Alternative Character Interpretation, but, as mentioned below in Meaningful Echo, "It's alright" and "Is it alright?" pop up quite a bit meaning different things. In the beginning, it's an actual affirmation. But towards the end, Stew's asking the "Artistic" version of The Mother whether it is, in fact, alright (meaning the way he's lived his life). She does confirm that it's alright, however her face seems to imply that she doesn't believe it. Especially ironic considering that this version of the Mother is basically an in universe fictional version of the earlier character, both created by Stew/The Youth. Meaning that not only is it kind of a ruse to fool himself into accepting his choices and being okay with them, but it's a ruse that he knows he doesn't believe. Also makes the ending downright Downer.

It's All About Me: Youth's main problem throughout the play, to the point where he distances himself from everyone who cared about him to focus on his pursuit of the "Real".

Meaningful Echo -The song "It's Alright" First said by Mr. Franklin trying to convince the Youth that he is okay after he confessed that he is basically a coward. Sung again in Amsterdam when the Youth is openly accepted without question into his "new family". Youth begs his mother to answer the question "Is it alright?" when she rings on the Christmas Eve before she dies right near the end of the show. All she can reply with is "I love you." Finally sung by the "artistic" version of the Youth's late mother, the version of her brought back to life by song. Stew, the grown-up Youth (as we have probably figured by now) repeatedly asks her "Is it alright?" to which she sings "Yes, it's alright" and leaves him.

At one point the youth mixes up the German words liebe and lieder, accidentally telling Desi "I song you." Later, the two of them fight and Desi yells, "I don't want to be a song. I want to be loved. And you don't know the difference."

"You know, absence really does make ze heart grow into a state of mind which somehow transforms what you once could not stand about your family into a somehow, quaint pleasure-giving construct."

My Beloved Smother - Subverted; this is how Youth (unfairly) views his mother, until its too late.

No Fourth Wall - Not for the Narrator anyway. This also fits in with the show being part rock concert, part musical.

Youth: Well, let me ask you this Mr. Know-It-All, do you know what it's like to hustle for dimes on the mean streets of South Central?

Stew: Nobody in this play knows what it's like to hustle for dimes on the mean streets of South Central.

The Nowhaus group also indulges in fourth wall breaking, particularly when they critique Marianna's song (titled Keys) from earlier in the show. Who starts the argument? Sudabey - who in the first act is actually Marianna!

It could be taken that the youth has, in-universe, written that song or even that part of the show already, since the conversation is really about The Youth's merits as a writer and whether it awards him a place in the house. That is, until Desi gives us this gem:

Token Minority - Averted and subverted - the entire acting cast is African American or Mixed Race, but in Amsterdam and Berlin are playing European or Caucasian characters which you don't realize until the Youth uses the fact that he is black to stay in Nowhaus. He then basically becomes the Token Minority in a all-black cast.

What Is Going On?? - Sung literally by the Youth as he enters the Mayday riot of Berlin. Also sung by Stew at the beginning of the play.

Stew: We're gonna do a little play since you came for that. A play where this band tells you where it's at. So just follow along, just follow along, just follow along ! ...or if you're ever not sure what we're all about - just ask the song, just ask the song, just ask the song!

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